Light competition drives herbivore and nutrient effects on plant diversity.

ABSTRACT: Enrichment of nutrients and loss of herbivores are assumed to cause a loss of plant diversity in grassland ecosystems because they increase plant cover, which leads to a decrease of light in the understory^1-3. Empirical tests of the role of competition for light in natural systems are based on indirect evidence, and have been a topic of debate for the last 40 years. Here we show that experimentally restoring light to understory plants in a natural grassland mitigates the loss of plant diversity that is caused by either nutrient enrichment or the absence of mammalian herbivores. The initial effect of light addition on restoring diversity under fertilization was transitory and outweighed by the greater effect of herbivory on light levels, indicating that herbivory is a major facto

SUBMITTER: Eskelinen A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9646529 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature